This sort of connector is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-55463. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, this connector 1 comprises a header connector 10 and a socket connector 15.
The header connector 10 is constructed with a header housing 11 formed of electrically insulating material such as synthetic resins or the like and header contacts 12 each of which is made of a metal plate. The housing 11 is formed into a slender box shape with a base, and four walls (sides) along an insert direction. The contacts 12 are arranged and fixed at specified intervals on lengthwise walls 111 and 112 of the housing 11. That is, each contact 12 is bent so that both faces of a lengthwise wall are sandwiched between the bent two parts of the contact 12, and then is fixed on the wall. In the example of FIGS. 1A and 1B, the housing 11 retains P-shaped contacts 12 each of which foot section 123 as, for example, a lead connected to a printed circuit board sticks out sideways via a through hole of the housing 11.
The socket connector 15 is constructed with a socket housing 16 formed of electrically insulating material such as synthetic resins or the like and resilient socket contacts 17 each of which is made of a metal plate. The housing 16 is formed into a slender box shape of which four walls surround the walls of the housing 11 and of which base closes the opening of the housing 11. The contacts 17 are arranged and fixed at the above specified intervals on lengthwise walls 161 and 162 of the housing 16. Concretely, the housing 16 includes connection cavities 165 and 166 formed so that the walls 111 and 112 fixing the contacts 12 are inserted into the cavities 165 and 166 and pulled out thereof along the insert direction, respectively. Each contact 17 is formed to include a contact section 171, a fixed section 172 and a lead section 173. The contact section 171 is bent so that the contact 12 inserted into a corresponding connection cavity is sandwiched between both ends of the section 171 and the ends come in contact with the contact 12. Therefore, when the connectors 10 and 15 are combined with each other as shown in FIG. 1B, each resilient contact section 171 is elastically deformed to sandwich a corresponding contact 12 between both ends of the section 171 to come in contact therewith, while adding restoring force of the elastic deformation. The fixed section 172 is continuously formed at the tip of one end 1711 of the contact section 171 so that a part (one end) 1721 of the section 172 is arranged in parallel with the one end 1711. The lead section 173 is continuously formed at the tip of the part 1721 of the fixed section 172 so as to stick out sideways, and is connected to, for example, a printed circuit board. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2A, the housing 16 has channels (cf. a channel 161a in FIG. 2A) at intervals corresponding to the above specified intervals around each lengthwise wall (cf. 161 in FIG. 2A), and the channels individually receive the contacts 17. Accordingly, each contact 17 can be prohibited from moving lengthwise.
However, as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, each contact 17 cannot be prohibited from rotating around the direction perpendicular to the lengthwise walls in the structure that each contact 17 sandwiches a lengthwise wall between the one end 1711 of the contact section 171 and the part 1721 of the fixed section 172, and projections 1725 and 1726 formed at the part 1721 are pressed into the corresponding channel (cf. 161a in FIG. 2B). When at least a contact 17 tilts as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, the lead section 173 can not be properly soldered to a printed circuit board. Moreover, contact condition between the contact 17 and a corresponding contact 12 becomes unstable as well, and also unwanted load is added to the contact 17 when inserted into the connection cavity.